Italians were not only the first people to put tomatoes in cuisine, but also the first to take photographs of themselves pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Delight in their inventiveness with today's Groupon: for $8, you get $16 worth of Italian fare and baked goods at Palma’s Bakery and Cafe.

Opened in 1979, Palma’s Bakery and Cafe maintains a familial culinary tradition of classic italian flavors with a menu of hearty sandwiches piled high atop fresh baked bread and delectable homemade cookies and pastries that glisten in the bakery’s display case. Juicy slices of tomato join fresh mozzarella in a bath of olive oil, basil, and duck-shaped lettuce leaves in the caprese salad ($6.99). Hands can eschew diabolical chinese finger traps in favor of the breaded eggplant sandwich ($4.75) or the calabrese sopresatta sandwich, dressed in a garment of capicola mortadella and sopresatta, with a prosciutto necklace and an olive-oil perfume ($6). Italian cookies, such as raspberry pockets ($6.75/pound) or lemon drops ($6.75/pound) round off Palma’s platoon of bulk baked goods, with turnovers ($1.50 each), cannoli ($2 for a large), and éclairs ($2 for a large) leading the pack of individual palate-pleasing pastries.

Dip biscotti into a cappuccino as you sit at a cozy table within Palma’s art-lined walls, or join the ranks of birds and oxygen farmers and take your nibbles to the outdoor patio to lounge under a shady umbrella.